INTRANET

Press Release

USNA Men’s Glee Club to Perform in Long Beach, Calif.

Posted on: February 24, 2014 08:00 EST

Press Release #: 018-14

ANNAPOLIS, Md. – The internationally-acclaimed U.S. Naval Academy Men’s Glee Club will perform in Long Beach, Calif. on Friday, March 14, at 7:30 p.m. as part of their ten-day “A Salute to America’s Heroes” tour across the southwest.

The concert will be held at the Covenant Presbyterian Church, 550 E. 3rd St., Long Beach, Calif. The concert is free and no tickets are required. Doors open at 7 p.m.

The largest and most active of the Naval Academy’s musical organizations, the Men’s Glee Club regularly travels around the country representing the Naval Academy and the naval service. The Glee Club has received national acclaim for recent performances including a sold-out Carnegie Hall program and musical selections for the JFK 50th Anniversary in Dallas. The group has also performed masterpieces of choral-orchestral literature in collaboration with some of the nation’s leading symphony orchestras including Charlotte, Columbus, Phoenix, Nashville, Portland and Winston-Salem. A recent performance with the Naval Academy’s Women’s Glee Club and the Annapolis Symphony Orchestra of Mahler’s Second Symphony received rave reviews statewide and a ten-day visit to Chile and Argentina in 2009 garnered international acclaim from ambassadors and state department officials.

“We are excited to be able to bring this premier men’s ensemble to Southern California and especially to perform at the Covenant Presbyterian Church to honor those who have served our country,” said Dr. Aaron Smith, the chairman of the Naval Academy’s Music Department and the director of the Men’s Glee Club. “This will mean a lot to our Glee Club members, as all of them will be serving our country as officers in the Navy and Marine Corps upon graduation and commissioning from the Naval Academy.”

The Glee Club will also visit area schools in the greater Los Angeles area on Thursday, March 13, and Friday, March 14, for assembly performances and to meet students interested in learning about a Naval Academy education.

“We are truly fortunate to have one of the finest men’s choral ensembles in the country performing for our local community,” John Stammerich, a Naval Academy graduate and Blue and Gold Admissions Coordinator for Los Angeles County.

Founded in 1845, the U.S. Naval Academy today is a prestigious four-year service academy that prepares midshipmen morally, mentally and physically to be professional officers in the naval service. More than 4,400 men and women representing every state in the U.S. and several foreign countries make up the student body, known as the Brigade of Midshipmen. Midshipmen learn from military and civilian instructors and participate in intercollegiate varsity sports and extracurricular activities. They also study subjects like small arms, drill, seamanship and navigation, tactics, naval engineering and weapons, leadership, ethics and military law. Upon graduation, midshipmen earn a tax-payer funded Bachelor of Science degree in a choice of 25 different subject majors and go on to serve at least five years of exciting and rewarding service as commissioned officers in the U.S. Navy or U.S. Marine Corps.

For more information on USNA Men’s Glee Club, please visit www.usna.edu/music. For more information about the Naval Academy, visit www.usna.edu or the Naval Academy’s Facebook page at www.facebook.com/USNavalAcademy